Ignition device for internal-combustion engines.



H. 0. 0mm. IGNITION DEVICE FOR. INTERNAL COMBUSTXON ENGINES.

I 7 APPLICATION FILED NOV. 4, 1911. 1,96%,23 l g, Patented Apr. 29, 1913.

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A H. 0. ORAM. IGNITION DEVICE FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 4, 1911. 4

Patented Apr. 29, 1913.

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HARRY OSBORN CRAM, or BRIDGEPORT, coNNEcT'IcUnnssIGNoR To THE BRIDGEPORT. MoTon C0.,.I1\TO or BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, A coaroRA IoN or coNNEcTIoUT.

IGNITION DEVICE non INTnnNAn-cor/InosTIoN ENGINES.

Lona-e31.

Specification of Letters I'atent.

Patented Ap1z25), 1913.

Application filed November 4, 1911. Serial No. ($58,494,.

Zo all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HARRY OsBoRN CRAM, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfielol and State of Connecticut, have invented cer: tain new and useful Improvements in Ignition Devices for Internal-Combustion Engines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has reference to the classofj ignition systems comprising make and break devices for producing-the electric spark, and has for its object to provide improved means to regulate the time at which the circuit shall be broken at the make and loreak contacts, my invention being particularly useful in multi-cylinder engines to enable the sparks to be timed accurately for the different cylinders. I 1

My invention compris novel detailsv of improvement and combin tions of parts that will be more fully hereinafter .set forth'a-nd then pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming pa rt hereof, wherein, Figure 1 is a partly sectional face view of an internal combustion engine equipped with my improvements; Fig.2 is a detail side v-iew looking-from the left in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-'-3, in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a verticalsection through a cylinder; Fig. dis a section on 'the line 5, 5,

ternately in opposite directions. I The tubes: 2 are pivotally connected with trippers 7,.

the upper ends of which are. normally main- -ta1ned within the tubes by springs 8. Said trippers are adapted on their lip-strokes to engage rods 9, the lower ends of which enter tubes 2 and the upper ends of which are guided bysuitable guides 10. The trippers 7 are provided with adjustable screws or stops 7 shown located on the. sides of the pivots 7 opposite the ends 7 tha-t enter tubes.

ides in any well known 2 and engage rods 9'." Screws or stops '7 'are 'held firmly in adjusted positions by nuts 11;

The screws or stops 7- are adapted, when... raised the proper distance, to engage abut-"- ments12 carried by the engine, so that at of v turned on their pivots to releasethe rods 9. f The abutments 12 are shown in the former headed pins slidably'mounted in bearingsthe proper moment during the risin tubes 2'an'd trippers 7 the latter wi lbe 12 and normally pressed upwardly by springs 12 (Fig. 3). The heads of pins 12 bear against cams 13, shown in the form of rods or shafts 13 suitably cut away at 13 .to form said cams',and journaled to rock in suitable bearings on the engine. The rod o r shaft 13 of each'cylinder is provided with a crank arm 13. Said arms are respectively pivotally connected with a rod 13, whereby said cams may be operated in unison. One of the rods orshafts 13 is longitudinally slidable and provided with a 6) adapted to enter any one 0 several holes 13 in the casting (Fig. 1) to retain the cams in set positions. A sprin 13 bearing against the casting and against a head orstop 18 on the rod B having the pin 13 (Fig. 6) serves'to retain said pin in a hole .13 to maintain both cams in set positions. The rods 9 operate the movable-contacts or.

members 14 of the make and break devices of the electric ignition circuit which coact in 13 (Fig;

with the stationary contacts 15. The mov-v ablecontact or member 14 is shown carried by shaft 16 journaled in plu 17 fitted in the engine cylinder, shaft 16 a'ving a fork 18 embracing rod 9. In the example illustrated, rod 9 has a collar-19 resting upon 'fork 18 and pressed by a spring- 20 that bears against 'guide' 10, the-head'Q of rod 9 coacting with guide 10 to limit the down ward movement of said rod. A collar 21 'loose on rod 9 bears against the under side of fork 18 and is pressedupwardly by a spring 22 hearing against a collar 23 Secured. upon rod 9, as byza pin. When atube 2 is" raised during theinstroke of the corresponding piston, its t-ripper at the proper timewwill engage the ower end :5 the correspondinfg'rod 9 and raise the latter, which, through the medium 'ofspring 22, will. cause fork. 18 to rock and cause contact 1 1 to engage contact 15,

and when stop 7 engages abutment 12 and tube 2 rises to the proper height the upper-end 7? of tripper 7 will be tilted away from beneath rod 9, whereupon the latter will be released, and, by reason of the downward pressure of sprin 20, contact 14 will be caused to suddenly lbave contact 15 and produce a spark therebetween, and, the downward stroke of fork 18 will be cush-' ioned by spring 22. When tube 2 has descended the proper distance the tri per '1' will pass under rod 9 to be ready or'the next operation. By means of the sto 7 timing of the spark, or the moment at W ich .tripper 7 is operated to release rod 9 to pro-- duce the spark, may be regulated by makin required adjustment of stop '2' in a vertica' direction; In a two cylinder engine, such as illustrated, where the tubes 2 reciprocate in alternate directions andthereby the cor: responding trippers 7 operate the corre sponding contacts 14; alternately, fine adjustment of the timing, or the moments of pro-. duction of thesparks in the corresponding cylinders, maybe made by adjusting the stops 7 with respect to their corresponding abutments 12, whereby the explosions in the two cylinders may be accurately timed for alternation.

The arrangement is particularly useful in providing for adjustment against wear of the parts which would tend to'delay the time of explosion in one'cylinder with respect to the explosion in another cylinder. By pulling on the rod or shaft 13 having the pin 13 both shafts 13 may be appropriately rocked to cause cams 13V to depress abutments 12 or. permit them'to rise to advance or retard the sparks in both cylinders correspondingly, and by releasing such rod or shaft the cams will be' retained in setpositions. If the sparking gets out of timein either cylinder,'by reason of wear atthe' end of either abutment 12 or the camthat operates it, the fault can be corrected by adusting thecorresponding stop 7 toward its "opposed abutment 12 to restore the proper timing of the sparks or the make and break .at the corresponding contacts 14, 15, which then will follow in proper alternation or order in any position to which the abutmen'ts 12 may be adjusted by the cams 13. My improvements, therefore, enable the production of steady running of the engine with respect to the rhythmical explosions desired in the corresponding cylinders, since, as the tubes 2 and their corresponding trippers 7 are normally set'for constant and corresponding operation, any variation of timing of the explosions in the cylinders that would otherwise occur may be readily counteracted by means of the adjustable stops 7".

While I have illustrated my improvements as applied in a two cylinder engine of the, two-cycle type, it will beunderstood that the same may be installed in an engine having any desired number of cylinders.

Having now described my invention what I claim is 1. The combination of a cylinder, a Crank shaft, a reciprocative member, a trippercarried by said member and provided with an adjustable stop, means to operate said memher by said crank shaft, make and break devices having a member to coact with said tripper, an abutment to coact with said stop, a cam to adjust said abutmenttoward said stop, a spring normally pressing said abut ment against said cam, and means to retain the cam in set position.

2. The combination of a cylinder, a crank shaft, a reciprocative tube, a tripper carried by said tube and having one end entering the tube, an adjustablestop carried by the tripper Without the tube, means for reciprocating said tube by the crankshaft, a rod entering the tube to coact with the tripper, make and break devices, means operated by said rod to actuate the make and break devices, an abutment to coact with said stop to release the tripper from said rod, a cam'to adjust said abutment toward said stop, a spring normally pressing said abutment against said cam, and means to retain the A cam in set position.

3'. The combination of a plurality of cylinders, a crank shaft for said cylinders, a plurality of reciprocative members each being provided with a tripper, each tripper having an adjustable stop, an abutment fpr each of said stops, means to reciprocate said members in opposite directions by the crank shaft, make and break devices for each cyl v each tripper being provided with an -adjustable stop, an abutment to coact with each of .said stops, means to reciprocate said. tubes in opposite directions by the crank shaft, a rod entering each tube to coact with the tripper therein, make and break devices for each cylinder, means for operating eachmake and break device by the corresponding rod, a ,cam co-acting with each abutment, means connecting said cams to operate them i in unison, and means to retain said cams in" set positions. l

5. The combination of a plurality of cylinders, a crank shaft for said cylinders, a reciprocative member associated with each cylinder, each memberbeingprovidedwith a tripper, each tripper having; an'adjustable stop, means to reciprocate said members in opposite directions by the crank shaft, make and break devices for each cylinder, each make and break device having a member to coact with the corresponding tripper, an abutment above each of said stops, a' cam above each abutment, a spring for each abut inent normally pressing it toward the corre-' sponding cam, an arm connected with each cam, a rod connecting said arnis,and means 10 to retain the cams in set positions.

' Signed at Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield, and State of Connecticut, this 25th day of October, A. D. 1911. HARRY OSBORN CRAM. Witnesses:

H. M. BIEGER, E. K. NIELSEN. 

